Iraq Appeals Anew to Exiled Academics to Return Home

Iraq’s government has issued a fresh appeal to the country’s exiled scientists, urging them to come home to help rebuild the economy, the Reuters news agency reported.

More than 200 exiled Iraqi scientists have been invited to a three-day conference sponsored this week in Baghdad by the Ministry of Science and Technology. The goal: Persuade them to return.

“You, the Iraqi brains, are an important part of driving the path we are on,” Sadeq al-Rikabi, a political adviser to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, told the scientists. “We are happy to see … these brains come back again, and I hope their return will not be just for a short time.”

What was once among the Arab world’s most extensive university networks has been shattered by the sectarian violence that has beset the country since the U.S.-led invasion of 2003. Hundreds of Iraqi professors were among those killed, and thousands of academics were driven into exile.

In recent months the violence seems to be abating, and Mr. al-Maliki’s office has set out an ambitious plan to return the country’s higher-education system to its former glory. Millions have been promised to send students to study overseas, and the government is keen to hook up Iraqi institutions with international partners. But what will be the key to the success of any plan to revive Iraqi higher education is the country’s ability to persuade Iraqi academics to return home.

So far, the Iraqi government says 700 professors from a range of academic fields have returned to the country. But among the scientists in Baghdad this week, Reuters reported that many had reservations about moving back to a country where civilians continue to be killed every day in gun and bomb attacks.

Mohammed al-Rubaie, a professor of genetic engineering at the University of Dublin, said he planned to make only short visits. “We do not want to come back [to stay], but there are ways,” he told Reuters. “Scientists could be invited for specific projects to give the benefit of their advice and experience. —Andrew Mills